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Residents asked for their views on future of city’s waste

Belfast City Council is seeking the views of residents on the future of waste and recycling.

Residents are being asked to respond to a Council consultation which is setting out options for the future of recycling and household waste collections.

Change to the current collection systems are needed if the Council is to meet its target of increasing the city’s recycling rate to 50% by December 2020.

The quantity and quality of recycling materials collected using these systems is not sufficient and we also know from WRAP’s (Waste and Resources Action Programme) that around half of the waste in black bins could be recycled; so we need to find a solution to move recyclables out of the black bin, and to improve the quality of materials we collect.

Councillor Kate Nicholl, chair of Belfast City Council’s People and Communities Committee, said: “Providing recycling and waste collection for residents is one of Council’s most critical services so it’s important for us to get it right.

“We can’t shy away from change when the evidence is stacking up to show that we are not going to meet the required 50% recycling target by 2020.

“We are already spending over £26m each year managing our waste – and by collecting our recyclables more efficiently we could have better quality recycling materials; we could create more jobs, and money spent on managing our waste could be better spent on investment in the city and other Council services.”

Council currently operates four different recycling systems across Belfast and residents are being asked for their feedback on proposals to move to one city-wide recycling collection instead.

Councillor Nicholl added: “Depending on what part of Belfast you live in, you might have a kerbside recycling box collection, or you might have a blue and brown bin for recycling household waste.

“We have done well to raise our recycling rate over the past 10 years to around 44%, however, we have now reached a plateau. Often the blue bin waste we collect contains contaminated items meaning it cannot be recycled locally and needs to be shipped on for sorting and treatment.

“Council is proposing to introduce a weekly recycling collection which would accept a wider range of materials than the current blue bin collection. It would also provide all Belfast residents with a weekly kerbside glass collection, and all food waste would be collected weekly also.”

There would be no changes to brown bin collections or apartment collections as part of this proposal.

The consultation is also asking residents for their views on the frequency of general waste collections and is asking for feedback on a number of options:

• Change to a smaller black bin for general household waste (180 litre), collected fortnightly;
• No change to size of black bin but introduce a three weekly collection cycle;
• No change to size of black bin but introduce a four weekly collection cycle.

Residents can respond to the consultation online before the deadline of 7 October 2018.

There will also be a number of information roadshows taking place across the city throughout September and October.
To have your say visit complete our Waste Consultation survey